Time: 7:45 PM CST
Channel: TSN3
Radio: CJOB680
The Winnipeg Jets are playing the St. Louis Blues for the current award for the weirdest start time of the season that I can tell at 7:45. The odd start time is because it is Child Advocacy Night where the team will honour the work of child advocates I believe (the Jets theme night descriptions are lacking). The team is asking fans to wear blue in honour of child victims of abuse and witnesses of violent crime. The night is a nod to the work that captain Adam Lowry has done with Toba Centre, a child advocacy charity in Manitba.
Now onto the game: the Blues are at .500 for the season and while they have gotten some good wins against teams, some of their losses have also been questionable. Kind of like the Jets. The Jets are coming off of a big win against the Edmonton Oilers where they erased a two goal deficit and fought back to win in overtime. They will want a repeat minus trailing in the game tonight.
The Blues are a team in transition. They lost Vladimir Tarasenko at the trade deadline and he is now a member of the Ottawa Senators. The Blues are not fully rebuilding though as they struggled partially due to injury luck more than lack of talent. Will this be the correct move for them? Time will tell, but they are already doing better than anyone could have expected after seeing last season.
The Jets are below the Blues in the standings and while it is still early, they need to work on turning their season around and getting things on track and that means winning games against teams that are close to them in the standings. If the Jets want to make the playoffs, this is vital.
However, they have to do this without head coach Rick Bowness who is away from the team due to his wife being hospitalized following a seizure. Scott Arniel will be back in a familiar position as head coach of a team in the MTS Centre/Canada Life Centre. Of course, Arniel used to be head coach of the Manitoba Moose and filled the head coaching role every game. We wish Mrs. Bowness all the best in her recovery.
